Asteriscus Mill.

Genus composed of 10 species, represented in North Africa by 6 species, of which 2 are herbaceous and 4 are subshrubby and small in size (up to 1.5 m), typical of desert and subdesert areas. The only one that can be considered shrub is A. pinifolius. The other 3 woody species barely exceed the 50 cm of height and are well differentiated from the previous species for being eglandular, they are:

A. graveolens (Forssk.) Less [Nauplius graveolens (Forssk.) Wiklund] (Eng: Ox-eye. Ara.: Negued, robd, rabd, rabi. Tam./Tamahaq: Akatkat, hasnem, amio, amayu, tafsat, oukout). The most widely distributed. It is characterized by its whitish branches; leaves linear, generally entire (the lower and middle leaves with a few teeth spaced apart), green-whitish due to being mostly covered with white-greyish hairs. Of Saharo-Arabian distribution, in North Africa it grows from the Anti-Atlas and the lower regions of the Moroccan High-Atlas, with a few populations in the Sus Valley, throughout all of the Sahara up to Egypt, including the Sinai Peninsula. The other 2 species have wider leaves, fleshy, obovate-spatulate, not linear.

A. imbricatus (Cav.) DC. (Ara.: Adrine) is distinguished form the previous species mainly by its leaves, that are spatulate, with dentate-spinulous margin; the leaves that surround the capitula are oblong-elliptic, with entire margin. Endemic to the sandy and stony areas of the western Sahara and the western Anti-Atlas, with some populations in the Middle Atlantic Morocco.

A. schultzii (Bolle) Pit. & Proust (Odontospermum schultzii Bolle). It is the smallest species, barely 15 cm in height, with leaves hairy with ciliated margins; floral capitula with central yellow flowers and ray florets white or white-yellowish. It was believed to be endemic to the eastern Canary Islands but it is distributed more widely in dry and subdesert areas of the continent, next to the coastline, from the western Sahara up to Sus.

A closely related genus to Asteriscus is Pallenis (Cass.) Cass., which differs mainly by presenting achenes of ray florets (with 3 lobes) flat. It is represented in North Africa by 6 species, all in the Mediterranean and Irano-Turanian areas. Two of these species have woody stems.

P. maritima (L.) Greuter [A. maritimus (L.) Less.], is a decumbent chamaephyte up to 40 cm in height, endemic to the western Mediterranean; with dense branching and oblong-ovate or spatulate leaves, with capitula sessile or very shortly pedunculate, surrounded by involucral leaves similar to the cauline leaves and unarmed, and flowers with ray florets (with 3 lobes), yellow-golden or lemon-yellow and darker disc florets. Peripheral achenes have no wings. It is found on cliffs and in littoral and inland rocky outcrops in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.

P. teknensis (Dobignard & Jacquemoud) Greuter & Jury, is endemic SW Morocco, and it differs from the previous species essentially by having peripheral achenes with broad wings.

Currently, none of these species has been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Updated by: J. Charco. & B. Valdés.